The BBC: 'Biased Broadcasting Corporation' or National Treasure? Maintain, Reform or Abolish?

As the 2020s get underway, the BBC might seem as powerful as ever; but, PM Boris Johnson's government is boycotting key current affairs programmes and threatens to decriminalise the licence fee for non-payment.

This week's panel debates BBC ethos, ideology and funding models and discusses whether the BBC is a national treasure that must be preserved or a wholly biased institution ripe for reform or even abolition.

HOST: Marc Sidwell, Journalist and Author

THE PANEL:
* DAVID COX: TV producer & former head of current affairs for LWT (London Weekend Television)
* JAMES DELINGPOLE: Writer, Journalist and Columnist
* RAFE HEYDEL-MANKOO: Historian, Writer and Broadcaster
* SOPHIE SANDOR: Writer and Documentary Maker
#NCFCounterCulture

---------------
SUBSCRIBE:
If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications)

AUDIO:
If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud.

SUPPORT/DONATE:
"So What You're Saying Is.." is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media.

PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY:
It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations.

ABOUT THE SHOWS:
So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds.

NCF CounterCulture is a weekly panel discussion show which gathers a different group of informed individuals together each week to debate a topic on which they have firm views. The hosts are Peter Whittle & Marc Sidwell.

JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

[marit]

The problem isn’t just the tick box diversity, it’s also that every drama turns into an SJW lecture.

[ChelseaSW]

I’m 54 and The BBC used to be an institution to be extremely proud of and as one of them says in this interview it used to stand up for British Culture and celebrate British values and history which was brilliant and now it couldn’t be more different it actually appears to hate this country, it is a hard left woke Broadcaster and for a public institution that is unacceptable and the reason why 75% of people do not watch or trust The BBC

It’s all pretty obvious this but like the hard woke left will they pay attention obviously not they don’t even care if they are unpopular or pressing the self destruct button either because they have an agenda and they ignore it on purpose

Tony Blair when he was in power reshaped The BBC and as a result it went too far left, to woke he did this with all our institutions and our courts too the man s DNA needs to be wiped out of British society for good

The BBC always promotes Political Correctness and Diversity over anything even its comedy programmes there is so much political correctness going on an anti white anti British anti Trump anti Brexit agenda it’s got to the point where it’s so constantly rammed down our throats that it’s hard now for it to not be too obvious, it’s there it’s in your face

The BBC also reflects Britishness in such a negative way and it does not in any way reflect society as a whole and let’s be honest it’s a bit of a give away that if it’s recruitment policy is done through The Guardian then these are the very reasons why it how it is surely there’s your answer

The BBC now has simply two choices because whether they care enough to change or not eventually it will be out of their control they either get shut down completely no more BBC or all the management and people at the top gets removed at the same time it drops it’s hard left agenda and changes it’s mantra to a more centralised position to reflect society, look a person that’s reads The Sun doesn’t suddenly start reading The Guardian so it’s decision time for The BBC because the public have had enough of it and that goes for Channel 4 too and their woke biased agenda as well, they have all got to wake up as trust has gone with all of them, it’s time to wake up BBC or bye bye

It’s a shame because PC culture is a sickness and so is identity politics too it’s a globalist view the world and the left think we should all live by and it’s a form of dictatorship, in order for their to be real equality for everyone then people need to be treated as an individual and not put into a group of priority after all we all but energy after all colour is irrelevant

That said there is however something to be said for an institution that celebrates being British so I hope it can reform into what it once was but I very much doubt it will because it doesn’t want to and so I think for that reason The BBC is doomed

It is ridiculous that in 2020 in order to just watch television you have to pay or face prosecution, it’s just a nonsense, The BBC like Globalism in general is being rejected, people don’t want to be lectured they just want to be entertained, anyway good discussion

[khankrum]

BREXIT. Now that is the problem for the BBC. Aunty lifted her skirts and showed for all to see how biased it is! Not having a TV license should not be a criminal ofence. Why would the BBC use extortion and prosecution foisted upon a people who never watch it. The BBC should go commercial and have to survive upon its own merit.

[DianaBee]

James Delingpole absolutely right. Can't watch BBC any more.

[platosdialectic]

scrap the licence and make it a subscription service, let it compete in the open market

[jeananne]

Come on Boris. At least decriminalize the non payment of the licence fee. That will sort it by market forces.

[bangtidybird]

Stopped watching the bbc over 3yrs ago.

[bb]

Rafe HM: "Despite its great drive for diversity, the BBC has forgotten to have diversity of opinion." BRILLIANT! lol :)

[merxeddie]

After listening to bbc radio 4 for 60 years, no more, the listening public are being used in a cultural experiment.

[simonboyle]

The BBC a national treasure ? Yea, just like Jimmy Savile was !

[alanturnock]

I stopped paying for the tv licence about 6 months ago.
I do watch Netflix, NowTV and Amazon Prime on my telly, all quite legally without a licence.

[alyswilliams]

I gave up on BBC news and programming years ago. The only thing I use the BBC website for is to look at the weather forecast.

[portmeirionman]

4 months ago, the BBC were coming to film a piece regarding fishing on my boat for Points of View (on the back of the Bob Mortimer / Paul Whitehouse series). I was told I must provide 4 persons, a male, female, disabled person plus someone from an ethnic minority. We do not discriminate who comes on the boat (we take many disabled people) but we do not have any female or ethnic minority customers so the BBC cancelled the filming. Trying to force these 4 groups into a TV report simply does not reflect the community I live and work in. I live in a small coastal community, not London. We could have gone out to find people to fit these groups just for the programme but how would you feel if you were only being invited because of the colour of your skin or sex? I had not heard of Woke before but I think this is a good example.

[melmo]

The BBC is woke and it thinks that it has a mandate to socially engineer. I work where the TV BBC world service HAS to be on. It is nauseatingly gynocentric. Whilst it was balanced before Brexit it certainly wasn't after the referendum as a member of the House of Lords (can't remember the name) proved empirically. It also represents the climate crisis as fact. It recently interviewed a climate "expert" from East Anglia Polytechnic who informed us that the Australian fires were a consequence of climate change. Naturally they made no attempt to find anyone who has a different view.

[Gundamuk]

Who needs the BBC when we have independent YouTube channels like this one? Great discussion.

[accorda]

In Australia we have the ABC, the Atrophied Broadcasting Corp

[adamwhite]

Decriminalize the tv licence and let the people decide.

[matthewbrindle]

I like Mr. Heydel-Mankoo's analysis of the purpose of PUBLIC SERVICE broadcasting. Promote the best of British culture and celebrate British history and achievements including the positive side of the British empire!

[gurnstein]

'Climate deniers', I stopped it right there. This is the sort of reductive, semantic gibberish the BBC trot out day in, day out.

[dougphillips]

Just count the woke items on the BBC world news service - every day without fail.